the fatal medical and pharmaceutical chain of events. four drugs administered to help jackson sleep, the mildest of which can kill in large doses, the strongest, propofol is potentially deadly even in smaller amounts if given improperly. combined and without proper attention especially outside a hospital setting, you've got the makings of a tragedy and, perhaps, a crime. randi kaye has the breaking news. the coroner's finding came out in court documents for a houston search warrant. and in the affidavit he admits giving jackson propofol. that's not the only drug. what did you learn about what else he was given in the hours before he died? >> reporter: we've learned quite a bit. the key thing we have learned tonight is that lethal levels of propofol killed michael jackson. the coroner's preliminary report is telling us so. dr. murray thought that michael jackson was addicted to the drug. he suffered terrible sleep insomnia for six weeks. according to dr. murray. he was apparently trying to wean him off of it. he had been giving him 50 milligrams of this drug and in the hours before his death, it

appears dr. murray gave michael jackson what amounts really to a cocktail of drugs even though the coroner is now saying it was this lethal dose of propofol which ultimately killed him. here's the timeline. 10:30 a.m., 10 milligrams of valium. 2:00 a.m., injected him with the antianxiety drug, ativan. 3:00 a.m., versed, through an i.v., also an antianxiety medicine to put someone to sleep before surgery. and 5:00 a.m., more ativan, 5:30 more versed, and at 10:40 a.m., the propofol, 25 milligrams. this is key since he called 911 at about 12:20 in the afternoon, dr. murray did. just about two hours after he gave michael jackson that propofol. >> and what about murray's actions the day jackson collapsed? did you learn where he was when the singer stopped breathing? >> we've been trying to figure that out for a couple of months now. and for the first time we're really getting a true sense of

the timeline here. dr. murray says he gave jackson the 25 milligrams of the propofol at 10:40 a.m. he says he finally went to sleep, according to this affidavit, he watched him for about ten minutes. he left the room to use the bathroom. he said he was gone for two minutes maximum according to the documents. when he came back, michael jackson wasn't breathing. now the timestamp that he put on that moment and according to the affidavit i have says it was about 11:40 a.m. but detectives looked at his cell phone records and show he made three separate calls lasting about 47 minutes before he called 911. who was he calling? and why did he use the cell phone to call 911 right away? the detective who signed the affidavit said dr. murray did not mention these calls when he was questioned by police. so that could prove to be a very critical 47 minutes of phone calls if the affidavit is correct and if michael jackson stopped breathing at 11:00 a.m., investigators, of course, anderson, will want to know why 911 wasn't called until 12:20

and who dr. murray may have been talking to in all that time on the telephone. >> what does this mean for dr. murray? he's been the target of this investigation. some media reporting investigation's now a homicide investigation. do we know where things stand? >> yeah, the ap, the associated press is reporting a single source from law enforcement telling them the case has now been ruled a homicide. the lapd, the los angeles police department, said that information didn't come from them. we also checked with the coroner's office and they said no comment. so they're not saying it isn't true, they're just not confirming it. but we want to point out that the coroner's definition of a homicide can mean many different things. it can mean first-degree murder, manslaughter, negligent homicide, it all depends. the affidavit we got today does say that investigators have found evidence of manslaughter, which we know they were looking for at dr. conrad murray's clinic. we also know from the district attorney here in l.a. they have not received the case yet to even consider charges. that's how the process works. the lapd gives them the case to determine what, if any, charges will be filed and that hasn't even happened yet.

dr. murray's attorney has read the affidavit. and he released a statement a short time ago calling much of the search warrant affidavit police theory, that's his quote. he said the timeline reported by law enforcement was not obtained through interviews with dr. murray as was implied by the affidavit. dr. murray simply never told investigators he found michael jackson at 11:00 a.m. not breathing. the statement also says he never said he waited a mere ten minutes before leaving to make several phone calls. in fact, dr. murray never said he left michael jackson's room to make phone calls at all. the statement also said they would address the report and the cause of death when the coroner officially releases the report. this was the preliminary report, we're still waiting on the final report. >> so is the family responding to all of this? >> they are. through the family's attorney they've released a statement, as well. i can share that with you. it says the jackson family has full confidence in the legal process and commends the ongoing efforts of the l.a. county coroner, the district attorney, and the l.a. police department. the family looks forward to the

day that justice can be served. >> randi, i want to go back to something to clarify. the attorney for murray is saying that dr. murray never told police that he left to go to the bathroom and never told police he made these other phone calls, is that correct? >> right, and this is a signed affidavit we have from the houston police department which conducted a search of dr. murray's clinic. they also -- authorities also interviewed dr. murray twice. and according to this affidavit, that is what dr. murray told them. now you have his lawyer coming out tonight saying that is not the case at all. >> obviously something needs to be clarified there. randi, appreciate the reporting. we're talking about four drugs, all of which can amplify the effects of the other, all of which can slow down the central nervous system. just about all of the above raises medical and legal questions. here to address them all drew pinsky, and anesthesiologist at cornell medical center here in

manhattan, written the guidebook "before the scalpel: what everyone should know before anesthesia." if you look at the drugs, does there seem to be any medical reason he would need all of these? valium at 1:30 a.m., ativan, antianxiety drug at 2:00 a.m. versed, a sedative at 3:00 a.m. ativan again. then you have versed again at 7:30, then you have propofol. what do you make of that? >> i don't make he's treating insomnia. that's for sure. there's no rational basis for this combination of the treatment of insomnia, no protocol on earth that would include these sub skanss. what i also draw from this is that he probably was tolerant and potentially even addicted to these substances and maybe in withdrawal which is why he could tolerate doses that literally would take down an elephant. >> take down an elephant. we're talking doses that large? >> yeah, anderson, last time i was with you i kidded with you being a lightweight. these are truly massive doses of medication.

to give 2 milligrams of ativan to man that weighs under 150 poungds on two separate occasions, the average person, that would put them to sleep for the rest of the day, no problem. to add versed, add propofol, now you have dangerous combinations of medication. >> we're going to take a short break, you can also join the conversation online. ac360.com. see how dangerous propofol is and how it is dangerous outside a hospital setting. 360 m.d. sanjay gupta takes us inside an o.r. where you'll get the demonstration of the drug and how quickly it stops the patient's breathing. >> nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. >> also tonight, what a newly released report says cia interrogators did to terror suspects including threatening their children, mock executions

and more. was it torture or investigating it politically motivated? what's the white house going about it tonight? with rheumatoid arthritis, it seems

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and the life you want to live. breaking news, word from the l.a. coroner they've concluded that michael jackson had killer levels of the anesthetic propofol or diprivan in his system when he died. propofol and three other drugs that can also slow breathing and heart rate. the ap reporting the coroner

will rule jackson's death a homicide. we're back with jeffrey toobin drew pinsky and anesthesiologist, dr. dar. you brought vials of propofol with you. a lot of people call it milk of amnesia. >> milk of amnesia. it comes in different sizes but it's the same concentration. what the doctor has to do an anesthesiologist has to do is draw it up in a syringe, such as this. when we talk about dosages like 50 milligrams, 25 milligrams, what does that really mean? once you draw it up, each line is 10 milligrams, 25 milligrams would be very little, 2 1/2 lines. >> you actually don't believe 25 milligrams is what was given? >> it has to be more than that. you know, 25 milligrams on top of the valium, the ativan and the other benzo versed, supposedly he was also addicted to narcotics which could have accumulated in the system. that could tip him over, but 25 milligrams usually wears off within two minutes or so.

you have to be monitored. >> the very idea of giving outside a hospital setting in conditions like this you find absurd. >> i doubt that dr. murray had available ekg, blood pressure monitors, oxygen monitors, we don't turn our backs on the patients when we give this drug. >> you wouldn't leave the room -- >> we don't even turn our bodies around. we're watching the patient intensely while we're giving propofol anesthesia. i would imagine if he gave him another higher dose, it would definitely have stopped his breathing, and perhaps the 25 milligrams could have because the other drugs accumulated in his system, but i would imagine he gave him a little bit more than that. >> jeff, from a legal standpoint, a homicide, what does that mean legally? could dr. murray be charged with what, manslaughter, murder? >> it means legally taking the life of another. it means michael jackson did not die of natural causes, he was not a suicide, it means the government has concluded that someone else killed him. there are a wide variety of

charges within homicide. intentional homicide, he can get the death penalty for. negligent homicide is a much less serious crime. it's an unintentional negligent killing. certainly he seems to be in that end of the spectrum. no one seems to suggest that conrad murray intentionally killed michael jackson. >> but by doing something medically unsound he could be charged with what? second-degree murder? >> no, it would be some version of manslaughter. an unintentional killing, but you can still go to prison for several years. keep in mind, though, these sorts of medical situations, it's very rare they give rise to criminal charges. malpractice suits, yes, losing your medical license, yes. but an actual criminal case resulting in jail sentence? very unusual. >> dr. drew, you treat addicts all the time. dr. murray told detectives he began trying to wean michael jackson off drugs and was administering less propofol than

he would normally administer. does his explanation make any sense? >> right. well, it makes sense, however, it's sort of misguided. if he -- >> is this a way to treat addiction? >> no. that's the point. if he made a diagnosis of addiction, he should have been bringing in an addiction team who has expertise in dealing with these things. for instance, you would never give atty van, la razz pam to an addict. it's out of the question. clearly he'd been receiving medicines like this for quite some time. he had valium, multiple in oral form at his bedside. there was something really very wrong already that dr. murray may have come to terms with, but didn't properly refer to the people who could manage this sort of thing. >> can someone, dr. drew, function when they're taking this amount of medication. we've heard people he worked with, oh, he was at the top of his form, which i find hard to believe, frankly. and everyone said he was the greatest father around. if you're taking this level of drugs, how competent can you be?

>> well, you're certainly not emotionally available, you don't make a good parent, but you can seem okay. people get tolerant to these substances and it's hard to identify that they're intoxicated. >> doctor, do you think -- should a cardiologist be at any point administering this kind of a drug? >> no, there's no way that conrad murray had the training to give this drug. and just the fact that he's giving small dosages, 50 milligrams, 25 milligrams is indicating he doesn't know how to use the drug. this usually is given as an intravenous infusion, meaning you have to put an iv in and it's continuously infused over periods of time to keep someone asleep. so 25 milligrams would ware off in a few minutes, and he would have to give another 25 milligrams and another 25 milligrams, and there was some evidence there was an iv pole in the house, perhaps these were given as iv infusion. >> does it strike you as inappropriate for -- and it seems like for you or dr. drew,

for a doctor to -- it seems like michael jackson was demanding this drug from this doctor who was in a very compromised position who had financial trouble who was being paid $150,000 a month. >> we really have to question his clinical judgment at that point. i mean, at this point, when you're not trained to use a drug, you don't know how to use it, you're not a specialist in a certain field, he has no business giving drugs like this. >> dr. drew, does this happen in l.a. all the time with celebrities being able to boss around their doctors in financial trouble? >> this happens all the time with people who have a lot of money and a lot of power. they feel the need to have special care, don't accept the standard of care, they find physicians thereat collude with them, people who like to bask in the glow of celebrity, for instance. thereby, they end up getting substandard care rather than the best care, standard care. this is a classic example of that where there's an adulteration of the patient/doctor relationship where money and power has gotten

in the way of it and affected someone's judgment and here now the outcome is dead patient. >> dr. pinsky, appreciate you on the program and jeff, as well. coming up, more of our breaking news next, including a visit to the o.r. sanjay gupta takes us into an o.r., shows us how propofol works and why you simply don't leave the room after administering. later, a sharp new warning, the first official word of how bad the h1n1 swine flu could be this fall. coming back, tens of thousands of young and otherwise healthy americans could die. smoothing , pantene smooth vitality. experts at good housekeeping agree. they gave it their seal. [ male announcer ] pantene delivers damage protection results leading salon brands can't beat. [ stacy ] it's just a tiny little transformation from dry, damaged hair, to shiny fabulous hair. women like you agree. [ male annpíncer ] readers' pick, pantene ice shine. [ stacy ] no wonder pantene's won more awards than even the leading salon brands. you be the expert. experience pantene. healthy makes it happen.

our breaking news on what authorities suspect killed michael jackson continues to look at the powerful anesthetic at the center of the criminal investigation. this is what the drug looks like, it's called propofol and documents reveal that the los angeles coroner says the singer had lethal levels of propofol in his blood when he died. remember, it was being given to jackson in his home even in a hospital setting where it's given thousands of times a day. propofol has to be carefully monitored as you're about to see.

chief medical correspondent dr. son jay gupta went inside one operating room to watch the drug being given properly and all of the safety measures involved and watch how quickly it can stop the patient's breathing. watch. >> reporter: so we are here inside the operating room with the doctor, the sheaf of anesthesiologists here. propofol is a medication he use all the time. is this it over here? >> yeah. >> reporter: milk of amnesia they call it. >> milk of amnesia. vincent, you okay? we have to monitor his ekg, we have to monitor his co2, make sure he's breathing, we have to see a saturation, make sure he's ventilating. >> reporter: that's all typical stuff? >> yes, standard of care, yes. >> reporter: okay, so the propofol -- >> start infusing this and get a little sleepy, vincent, give me good, deep breaths. >> watch us go and take a look at his eyes how quickly --

>> deep breaths, vincent, doing great. may feel a little burning, okay? >> ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one -- >> there's a reason for his heart rate increasing. see his eyes are closed. >> reporter: his eyes closed. what else -- >> he stopped breathing. this is watching his co 2. he's not breathing anymore and my wonderful method is going to make him breathe. >> take a look over here, all of the breathing is taking place with this bag and that mask. from that medication he wouldn't be able to breathe on his own without those things. there you can see part of the problem. with that much propofol there, he stopped breathing and is going to need a breathing tube. >> easy? >> easy. >> reporter: what's so attractive about this medication?

>> well, it's really been in the last ten years even more, 15 years, and it's basically a quick on, quick off. and that may answer why people think this is something they could do at home, because if it gets out of hand, it goes away quickly. the problem is, if it gets out of hand and there's nobody there to resuscitate you then nobody can bring you back. >> reporter: that was pretty quick. you gave some of the medication, you're going to -- >> about ten minutes. >> reporter: he's gone from being completely awake to completely asleep. >> he's not breathing, i'm breathing for him. >> reporter: one thing that's worth pointing out is this a hospital that uses this medication thousands and thousands of times a year. but they use it in non-hospital settings like outpatient clinics. the doctors here will tell you they've never heard of it being used in a home. anderson, back to you. >> unbelievable how quickly it stops a patient's breathing even under the right settings. the patient you saw going under anesthesia during the piece is doing fine now. he woke up shortly after the surgery without any complications. still ahead tonight, dramatic video, the freak killer

wave that swept spectators including a 7-year-old girl out to sea off maine's coast. first erica hill with the "360" bulletin. and anderson, we begin with more breaking news. a senior administration official telling cnn president obama will nominate ben bernanke for a second term as federal reserve chairman. the president will make that announcement tomorrow morning. more breaking news, a sobering new estimate of potential toll from swine flu. the president's council of advisers and science and technology says the virus can infect half the u.s. population this fall and winter, hospitalizing up to 1.8 million people and causing as many as 90,000 deaths. that's more than twice the average death in a normal flu season. the highest ranking man in the u.s. military says the situation in afghanistan is getting worse. the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff admiral michael mullen told cnn's "state of the union" the taliban has become more sophisticated over the past couple of year while president obama has called the situation

in afghanistan a, quote, war of necessity. anderson, dr. sanjay gupta, peter bergen, and michael ware will be in afghanistan the week of september 7th. join us for "360" in afghanistan live from the battle zone. it is the end of the road for the cash finish clunkers program. for good this time. the rebate portion ended earlier tonight. dealers have until noon tomorrow to submit those requests for refunds. and the first family firmly in vacation mode on martha's vineyard, the president golfing today on oak bluffs' course. the press was invited to the first hole but after that asked to give the obamas, especially malia and sasha some privacy, anderson. they have 28 1/2 acres so they can find some privacy there. >> not too hard. he also plans to catch up on reading during his vacation, you can see the books on ac360.com. up next, new information about cia interrogations during the bush administration. a report reveals techniques including threatening to kill one suspect's children and threatening to force another to watch his mother being sexually

assaulted. are they tough but necessary tactics or just plain criminal? all sides. also ahead the end of the manhunt for reality tv show contestant. he is dead, but now police want to talk to a mystery woman seen with him days ago. crime and punishment ahead. ♪ yes, you're lovely... ♪ what do you think? hey, why don't we use our points from chase sapphire and take a break? we can't. sure, we can. the points don't expire... ♪ there is nothing for me... ♪ there's no travel restrictions... we could leave tomorrow. we can't use them for a vacation. you can use the points for just about anything. i know... ♪ the way you look tonight ♪ chase what matters. get your new chase sapphire card at chase.com/sapphire. it was tough news to hear.

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the last space shuttle launch was delayed five times before it got off the ground and did its course in the end heading toward the international space station. next launch was set to take place today. as we've been hearing it's not going either. john, what's happening? >> reporter: dan, that's exactly right. moments ago nasa decided that the weather was not going to cooperate. there had been thunderstorms in the area earlier. in fact, over the launchpad, heavy rain just a little bit ago. they just could not clear all of

the weather, potential weather violations in time to get the shuttle "discovery" off the ground at 1:36 a.m. this morning. i'm joined by katie coleman, veteran astronaut with nasa. has flown twice. katie, you're used to this on your missions as well, right? >> that's true. we had seven launch delays. it was hurricane season. that's my excuse. >> reporter: like now. >> people in my family haven't forgiven me. you go when the time is right. a space station mission has to go at an exact certain time. we have a window to catch up with the space station. with a few more minutes, maybe 30, they might have cleared it tonight. we just didn't have it. >> reporter: we can see the cars are pulling out. they're already leaving here. they'll be back tomorrow to try this all over again. it's an interesting mission we're looking at. you know, space station mission, but you've got nicole on the flight. she's going to be flying up to the space station and staying

and -- >> one comes home. >> reporter: you were her backup on this. if she had got sick, you would have been going on the mission. i wouldn't have had you here. >> i'm a backup. it doesn't mean if nicole didn't feel well this morning i'd get to be on the shuttle. it wasn't like that. it's been a privilege to be with her during the trains. this is a woman who is so sharp at everything we do and, yet, you know, the other side, the very fun side, i guarantee you we are going to see fun from this space station crew once nicole gets on board. she has a great sense of humor as does the rest of the crew. >> reporter: she is the last of the astronauts going to up the station on a shuttle. >> that's correct. >> reporter: you're going to go up in a little over a year, november 10th, 2010. you'll be flying on a rocket up there. it will be pretty much the end of the space shuttle program and you'll be going up. are you already practicing for

that? >> i was practicing being nicole's backup. i'm 100% secertified to use the rocket. the shuttle certification from before. so it's nice to have done all that stuff now. i'll have a lot to do for my own mission because you need to learn the specific missions for the mission. >> reporter: you're going to spend how many months up there when you go? >> around five or six. >> reporter: five or six? nobody can come or visit either. >> hopefully we will have visitors. it's a six-person crew. we trade crews out twice a year. it's a marvelous time for the space station program. we finally have six people able to work onboard. this mission brings up a lot of the equipment we need to do more science, have enough food and supplies, have enough redundancy in the air recirculation system. >> reporter: you talk about things you're bringing up on this. bringing up the colbert named after stephen colbert. the treadmill that was named after him in the naming contest.

>> combined operational load baring -- >> reporter: load bearing something or other treadmill. >> it really works. i know he wanted a bigger piece of the space station named after him. >> reporter: i'll take any piece of the space station named after it me. that's going to wrap it here from the kennedy space sensor. disappointing night for the u.s. space agency. they will try again tomorrow morning at 1:10 a.m. eastern time and, of course, we will be here hopefully with a better result. don? >> all right. good stuff, john. look forward to speaking to you again this time tomorrow. stay with us here on cnn today. we'll be back with more news in just a moment. we should be clear career prosecutors in the justice department reviewed this report and found there were no crimes that were worthy of prosecution. this is now going back on that

and asking a second group of prosecutors to do it again. i think that's unnecessary and, frankly, dangerous. >> james, prosecutions aside, these actual techniques, are they appropriate? >> well, i mean, i think everybody agrees they're not appropriate. the problem with this is this is not good politically for the administration, the democrats. the public clearly doesn't have much of an appetite for this. now, you have a lot of people in the justice department that believe the speeches about no one's above the wall and force the law. apparently these people are put enormous pressure on the attorney general. what they have now is, like, some kind of a preliminary investigation going on. this is -- there's no doubt about this. politically this is a very tight spot that the administration has been placed in here. >> fran, i heard you say that the cia doesn't think it's appropriate. i'm curious, do you think these things are appropriate in. >> you know, anderson, in order to say whether or not they're

appropriate, we have to go back to where we were where we knew little about al qaeda. these individuals, the things you listed that have been alleged. nobody laid a hand on them. nobody touched them with a drill. nobody fired a weapon. did they use unsavory techniques and tactics? sure, they did. this is a time we're worried and trying to prevent the next terror attack. we have to remember these are techniques used against people who didn't think a thing of killing nearly 3,000 americans, men, women and children. >> james, if these techniques led to some terrorist event being stopped in this report they said that they believe it led to some people being arrested for an attack in karachi. are these fair game? >> look, the question is -- i'm not a prosecutor. these guys actually take seriously into question tsh prosecutor's mind, not was it just that, is it against the law? they are taugts from the get-go that the mind of a prosecutor is, i'm here to enforce the law.

was this legal or illegal? if we think it's illegal, we're duty bound by our oath to pursue this. i tend to agree with jeffrey smith, general counsel of the cia during the clinton years. >> fran, general attorney holder has authorized this preliminary review of these interrogations. if people broke the law and committed acts of torture, shouldn't someone be held accountable? >> anderson, look, i am a former career prosecutor. i agree with people actually broke the law and committed crimes they ought to be prosecuted for them. i don't have a problem of that. i don't think we see an indication of that. career prosecutors have already looked at this and made a judgment that prosecution is not appropriate. >> what do you make that president obama's authorized this new special interrogations unit based out of the fbi? it seems basically a repudiation of the cia. >> i don't know that i think it's a repudiation. remember, anderson, the fbi, because they objected to bush

administration interrogation policies didn't participate at all. i think that resulted in a lack of sharing of information and the inability to follow up on leads. so i think that this task force led by the fbi with a deputy from the intelligence community, presumably the cia, will actually set common standards, ensure the information. i think the task force is a good idea. >> james, any thought on it? >> task force, to me, always seems good when they're announced. some how or another, a lot of them don't turn out that way. you know, i read it -- it seems like it makes perfect sense to me which probably means it's a disastrous idea. i agree with that because it makes so much sense, it just can't be any good. >> we're going to leave it there. fran townsend, james carville. thanks. join the live chat at ac360.com. let us know what you think about the debate. new twists in the case of the murdered model. the hotel suicide.

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a hunt ended last night with the suspect found hanging in a canadian hotel room. police say this man, ryan jenkins killed himself. he was charged with murdering his ex-wife, a swimsuit model whose body was stuffed inside a suitcase. while the manhunt is over, there are new questions tonight. questions about whether jenkins had help in getting rid of his ex-wife's body. authorities also want to talk to the woman who apparently checked into the hotel with jenkins a short time before he killed himself. erica hill has the latest. >> reporter: on the run for more than a week, the international manhunt for ryan jenkins ended in his motel room. >> the man hanging from a belt, from a coat rack. that was it. that's just not a pretty scene.

>> reporter: motel staff say a woman checked jenkins in late thursday. she paid for the room in cash for three nights. >> she was about 20 to 25, blond hair, very pretty, she was driving a silver pt cruiser with alberta plates. she had rented the room and we haven't seen her since. >> reporter: the woman reportedly left after just 20 minutes. jenkins was seen only once after that on friday. described as gaunt, staff say he didn't look at all like these pictures. when no one checked out of the room on sunday, the manager and his nephew knocked on the door. >> checked around 12:00, knocked on the door. excuse me, opened the door and there he was hanging there. >> reporter: he said it appeared the body had been there for sometime, though officials haven't yet released an official time of death. canadian authorities said today they know who checked jenkins into the motel but are not releasing her identity. >> we do believe they knew each other. there was a past history. but we don't want to go into specific detail as to the relationship.

>> reporter: meantime, another major question to be answered. how did this real estate developer with a history of assault end up on a reality matchmaking show? >> it just sort of causes a flag to go up that producers should even look further and do a little bit better job. we all have to take responsibility in making sure that our cast is very, very vetted. >> reporter: jenkins pleaded guilty to assault in canada in 2007 where he received 15 months probation and was ordered into counseling for domestic violence and sex addiction. the production company behind vh1's "megan wants a millionaire," 51 minds, says the vetting process for all contestants involved a complete background check by an outside company. clearly, 51 minds said, the process did not work properly in this case. it's now investigating. robert mazza cast reality shows. >> anything violence, anything violent where there's an attack,

somebody's hurt, a threat, a retraining order. i don't know how he got through the process. if he went through that complete background check, this would have come up. somewhere, somebody slipped. >> reporter: jenkins did make the cut and sometime after wrapping the reality show, met jasmine fiore in las vegas. the woman he would marry and later, say police, murder and brutally mutilate before killing himself. now, anderson, a big part of that background check is the information contestants give to the production company. accurate past addresses, employers, references, i asked scott how much of that information is accurate, he says 99% of people are very honest because they have to sign so many forms, most of them are afraid not to be. >> interesting. erica, thanks very much. ryan jenkins is an extreme case, but not the first reality tv star to make headlines. read more about other contestants go to ac360.com right now. a new orleans high school student says hurricane katrina was a blessing. he's not the only one who feels that way. what is going on right now four years after the storm in new orleans. part of our week-long series and

we're going to go to new orleans on thursday and friday night. also ahead, a dramatic rescue. how rescuers finally freed a 3-year-old girl who got her arm stuck in a pool drain, coming up.

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and the thousands who ended up in the convention center in desperate conditions. katrina and the aftermath have become a symbol of what can go wrong and also in some cases, what can go right. sean callebs keeping them honest with a look at some things that have changed for the better in new orleans after the storm. >> reporter: the floodwaters washed away so much here, so much lost. but they also washed away a crippling problem, a terrible public school system. todd is principal of the kip central city academy. >> right now it's louisiana, mississippi always at the bottom of the two public education. are you optimistic that's going to change? >> i'm very optimistic, when i talk to teachers and families, especially teachers who just want to move here, i tell them that new orleans in five or ten years will be looked to as the model of how you perform in education. >> reporter: he says before the storm he did poorly in a poor public school. he failed fourth grade and says he never thought about his future. >> i actually think the storm

was a blessing in disguise. >> reporter: the storm forced an education overhaul from the ground up. this man, paul vallas, who turned around schools in philadelphia and chicago, is driving a change and he's in a hurry. >> in the recovery school district alone, the last two years we saw an increase in test scores in every subject at every grade level. >> reporter: vallas inherited a district where 4 in 10 kids graduated from high school. in fact, so many students were failing so badly, the state had taken control over about 85% of the district schools. vallas is spending millions of federal dollars that are pouring in giving kids laptops and offering smaller class sizes that give more one-on-one instruction. but perhaps most importantly, he hired a small army of young, motivated teachers from across the country through the organization, teach for america, some of whom replaced veteran teachers who were considered underperforming. >> they bring a certain energy and they bring a certain -- you

know, personality and drive into the schools that really creates a culture of high expectations. >> reporter: as for bailey, that's why he calls the storm a blessing. >> then that changed my teachers. my teachers had expectations that were higher and expected me to live up to the expectations. the drive my teachers gave me pushed me up to that level. >> reporter: in fact, his new public school teachers pushed him so hard and he did so well that he received a scholarship to a $17,000 a year private school. it's a good story. it's a winning formula of motivated teachers, renovated schools, and new laptops. but they're not all good stories here. by state law if students don't pass an exit exam at the end of eighth grade, they're not promoted to high school. davis studies at home because she failed that test and can't enroll in school. her mom says she has a learning disability, difficulty retaining

information, and she doesn't want the 15-year-old to attend the eighth grade for a third time. and says the district isn't providing adequate tutoring and other resources that might give her a chance for a high school diploma. what's your big fear? are you worried that she could fall through the cracks, get frustrated and drop out? >> well, i feel she's already falling through the cracks. i mean, she's already three grades behind. >> reporter: the new education czar paul vallas says the situation is disappointing, and, no, not every student is succeeding. he doesn't like graduate exams. >> i always thought you give the high-stakes test and if the child does not pass all the components of that test then -- then you conditionally pass the student if the student has hit other benchmarks. >> reporter: and the district's long-term goal -- >> who's going to college? >> we're going to college. >> reporter: for families here,

that's been an all but unthinkable goal. only about 7% of new orleans public school kids graduate from college. that's right, just 7%. so some things never change here. once again, it's hurricane season and thoughts of katrina are always here. but there is now hope because katrina did bring paul vallas and his army of new teachers here and his hope for a brighter future for the kids. sean callebs, cnn, new orleans. >> our series of reports, "hurricane katrina, after the storm" continue tomorrow with a look at how the disaster has affected the mental health of people in its path. and as i said, i'll be in new orleans thursday and friday to see the recovery firsthand. going to walk around the city with james carville, a city resident and a lot of other folks. if you want to know how to help, two to impact your world at cnn.com/impact. tourist attraction turned tragic, seven people swept to sea. we'll show you the dramatic rescue video as rescuers fought the waves. and another rescue caught on tape. a little girl's arm sucked into a pool drain during swimming lessons.

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let's get the latest on the stories we're following. erica hill back with the "360" bulletin. >> dramatic video of a rescue of the sea off the coast of maine. amateur video to show you. a life preserve thrown from a coast guard boast to one of the three people swept away from the acadia park yesterday. this next bit of footage is from the coast guard. it shows one of those victims pulled from the water. two of the people who were swept away survived. a 7-year-old girl died. it's not the first time the popular tourist resort has been hit with extremely violent weather. the area prone to it. this video from 2006, huge waves here just pounding that coastline. engulfing it, really. another dramatic rescue, this one captured live on cnn. firefighters in key biscayne, florida, working for an hour to free a 3-year-old girl whose arm was caught in a pool drain.

to release her they had to cut through the pool's wall. the child said to be in stable condition. talk about scary. on a much lighter note for you, titan, a 4-year-old great dane, meet him. he's on a quest for the title of world's tallest dog. titan was measured by a vet on sunday, came in at 42.25 inches at the shelter. that was his reaction, too. the formal measurement brings titan closer to the guinness world record his owner is hoping for. good luck, titan. they're such sweet dogs. i love great danes. >> they're huge. in new york you see someone walking a great dane and you think, how big is their apartment? >> there's an irish wolf hound in my neighborhood. born and bred there. he's about eight feet tall at the shoulders. next on the program, ah, yes, heidi montag -- am i saying her name >> i think she's now heidi pratt. >> she stole the show at the miss universe pageant. stole i mean she has a stunning lack of talent. see for yourself coming up.

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it was almost was in sync. the performance was from the miss universe pageant. i don't know who this person is nor why she's pretending to be a singer nor why anyone should listen to her. apparently she's famous. heidi montag is so famous she twitters. she twittered to congratulate herself. she tweeted she had so much fun. she also thanked god. i don't think god had anything to do with this production. >> i hope god had nothing to do with this. >> to work on this production and that's the best god can do? we're all in trouble. >> our own resident miss universe expert who should remine unnamed at this time told me the interesting part of the performance, too, through most of it she didn't seem to know the words she was supposed to lip sync to her own song. >> i think using the term interesting is a stretch. >> sultry, that was a look we just saw. you can use that word. >> okay. who is she? where is she from? >> the hills.

she married that annoying spencer pratt. they love themselves. love themselves. they're spiedi. >> are they? >> that's their name. breaking news. more information about the drugs in michael jackson's system, including what time the l.a. coroner -- actually what the coroner says is a lethal amount of the powerful anesthetic, propofol. strength on its own can be impressive. when consistency is added, that's when it becomes real. ♪ at northwestern mutual, we've been able to deliver real strength... for over 150 years. northwestern mutual. consistency counts. put our strength to work for you. learn how at northwesternmutual.com.